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PC Security Stop Spyware, Hackers and Identity thieves. Info re: Viruses, trojans, removal, etc...

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Old 01-05-2006, 01:12 AM   #1
Lyte
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Keystroke loggers, has Big Brother arrived??

GOVERNMENT/MANUFACTURERS INSTALLING HARD-WIRED KEYSTROKE LOGGERS INTO ALL NEW LAPTOP COMPUTERS!

Anyone hear of this....

Devices capture everything you ever type, then can send it via your ethernet card to the Dept. of Homeland Security without your knowledge, consent or a search warrant each time you log onto the internet!
Freedom Of Information Act Requests For Explanation From DHS, refused.

I was opening up my almost brand new laptop, to replace a broken PCMCIA slot riser on the motherboard. As soon as I got the keyboard off, I noticed a small cable running from the keyboard connection underneath a piece of metal protecting the motherboard.



I figured "No Big Deal", and continued with the dissasembly. But when I got the metal panels off, I saw a small white heatshink-wrapped package. Being ever-curious, I sliced the heatshrink open. I found a little circuit board inside.



Being an EE by trade, this piqued my curiosity considerably. On one side of the board, one Atmel AT45D041A four megabit Flash memory chip.



On the other side, one Microchip Technology PIC16F876 Programmable Interrupt Controller, along with a little Fairchild Semiconductor CD4066BCM quad bilateral switch.



Looking further, I saw that the other end of the cable was connected to the integrated ethernet board.

What could this mean? I called the manufacturer's tech support about it, and they said, and I quote, "The intregrated service tag identifier is there for assisting customers in the event of lost or misplaced personal information." He then hung up.

A little more research, and I found that that board spliced in between the keyboard and the ethernet chip is little more than a Keyghost hardware keylogger.

The reasons a computer manufacturer would put this in their laptops can only be left up to your imagination. It would be very impractical to hand-anylze the logs, and very CPU-intensive to do so on a computer for every person that purchased a laptop. Why are these keyloggers here? I recently almost found out.

I called the police, as having a keylogger unknown to me in my laptop is a serious offense. They told me to call the Department of Homeland Security. At this point, I am in disbelief. Why would the DHS have a keylogger in my laptop? It was surreal.

So I called them, and they told me to submit a Freedom of Information Act request. This is what I got back:

Under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) the only items exempt from public disclosure are items relating to "law enforcement tools and techniques" and "items relating to national security."

The real life implications of this are plain: Computer manufacturers appear to be cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security to make every person who buys a new computer subject to immediate, unrestricted government recording of everything they do on those computers! EVERYTHING!

This information can be sent to DHS, online, without your knowledge or consent, without a search warrant or even probable cause! That's why this device is hard-wired directly into the ethernet card, which communicates over the internet!

I am not certain how long this information will be permitted to remain online for all the world to see before the government takes some type of action to attempt to have it removed from public view. I URGE you to take copy of this page immediately and spread this information to everyone you know immediately! The more people who find out about this, the more can protect themselves and raise a HUGE outcry to force government and computer manufacturers to immediately CEASE installing these devices in new computers!

-- "Courtesy: Hal Turner Radio Show http://www.HalTurnerShow.com"

Last edited by Lyte : 02-14-2006 at 05:50 PM.
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Old 01-05-2006, 10:34 AM   #2
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In light of all that's ocurred since 9/11, it wouldn't surprise me tho the actual implications may be far less sinister... and in fact, we have no way of knowing the agenda of the author, etc. Certainly bears looking into a bit further. If true, I can't imagine anyone, and I mean, anyone, wanting to use or own a laptop outfitted in this manner. I suspect if it exists, it's there primarily to assist tech in evaluating or assisting in support.
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Old 01-05-2006, 01:07 PM   #3
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You may well be right! So much technology that's been developed in the private secrtor has been found to offer military/gov. applications as well. Of course, the opposite is true too!

I'm surprised we've not heard more about this, if in fact it's true! I mean, look how people the media is going after this wiretap issue!

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Old 01-08-2006, 05:44 PM   #4
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I'm going to look into this a bit further, perhaps post it around a bit to see what I can scare up..

I know that 10 years ago (maybe more) a friend of mine was working under government contract to help devise methods of "listening" to keypresses on the DL (down low, as they say). I didn't think of it or remember that until today so maybe this is a culmination of that branch of research.. scary in it's implications.


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Originally Posted by Lyte
You may well be right! So much technology that's been developed in the private secrtor has been found to offer military/gov. applications as well. Of course, the opposite is true too!

I'm surprised we've not heard more about this, if in fact it's true! I mean, look how people the media is going after this wiretap issue!

Lyte
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Old 01-08-2006, 08:25 PM   #5
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I think the spying is BS. :mad: Instead of going out and finding terrorists they spy on everyone.

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